About the Filmmaker

Michael W. King

Michael W. King has been making films for more than two decades, winning an Emmy for a PBS documentary on youth violence in 1999. He produced and directed features and documentaries before becoming a professor of film and screenwriting. King served as a member of the board of the International Documentary Association and is an active member of the Directors Guild of America.

The Rescuers has won 30 film festival awards, including multiple Best Documentary and Best Historical Documentary awards. The film was further honored as Best of the Best at the Palm Beach International Film Festival and was an Official Selection at the NAACP Image Awards. The film was also screened at a United Nations Conference and, at the request of the US State Department, King has helped promote the film abroad.

FILMMAKER STATEMENT

During the darkest time in the 20th century there were righteous individuals that risked their lives, families, careers and went against their government to save tens of thousands of human beings during the Holocaust. These international diplomats’ courageous and heroic actions, for the most part, have been untold and forgotten by most of the world.
Those they saved unlock their “mystery of goodness” in The Rescuers.

How could they stand by and watch as so many of them did? That’s what makes it a mystery. It’s the concept that I wouldn’t let this happen to my family, so why would I watch this happen to another family and not try to prevent it. These stories are worthy just based on the humanitarian aspect of each of these individuals. These are the types of values we should want to introduce to our children, into our school system. For so long these diplomats weren’t honored. They went back to their countries and most ended up demoted, rejected for their actions because they went against their country’s policies. Can you imagine, being penalized for saving thousands of lives?

These diplomats are hardly known because after the war they didn’t brag about what they did or get book deals. Their actions weren’t based on self-interest, self-gratification. It was the right thing to do and they weren’t looking for payback or recognition.

My hope in making this film was to put a “spotlight” on these incredible stories and diplomats—to inspire others to ask themselves why goodness is a mystery and not the norm. These stories have given me the determination to continue to find ways through which we can ensure that genocide, or attempts to commit genocide, never happen again.

Welcome to the Scientology Network Documentary Showcase

Fundamental to Scientology is a humanitarian mission of extraordinary scope, now extending to some 200 nations. Included therein are programs for human rights, human decency, literacy, morality, drug prevention and disaster relief.

For this reason, the Scientology Network provides a platform for Independent filmmakers who embrace a vision of building a better world.